Wednesday
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(II Corinthians 5:11-21, NIV)
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church was written while he was in Macedonia and has as its main focus a defense of his personal integrity and his authority as an apostle. In the process of explaining his ministry and defining what it means to be a follower of Jesus, Paul summarizes the gospel message. As we noted in the devotional readings for the last two days, reconciliation and peacemaking are the principal terms Paul uses to describe God’s purpose in history and the mission of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Today’s verses include some of the most well-known statements in Paul’s writings, particularly verse 17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!” As Paul describes God’s plan of making things right with him through Christ, we are reminded of Colossians 1:15-20 which we mentioned earlier was probably a hymn in the early church. This letter to the believers in Corinth fully develops this theme. But in these verses, Paul offers an important additional insight: Jesus’ reconciling role is now given to his followers. God gives us “the ministry of reconciliation” (v. 18). He repeats this theme in the next verse, emphasizing how God has “committed to us the message of reconciliation” (v. 19). Paul’s conclusion: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors” (v. 21). In God’s sovereign wisdom, Christians who have experienced this new relationship with God now have the privilege of carrying this message to the rest of the world as royal appointees of the King!
Paul ends his reflections by reminding his readers – then and now — of the essence of this Good News in verse 20. Christ, the righteous Son of God, took on our sin and received the punishment we deserved at the cross so that we can be righteous and therefore be made right with God. All of this God chose to do for us. Having experienced God’s grace, we now have the opportunity to pass it on!
Prayer
God of love, we rejoice in the reality that through Jesus Christ we can become “a new creation.” Equip us, through your Holy Spirit, to be ministers of reconciliation in our world that desperately needs your healing presence. Amen.